


Jail of Hope

by VeloPls



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, P5Scramble, Slow Burn, shumako
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:01:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26303122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeloPls/pseuds/VeloPls
Summary: Ren and Makoto have agreed to study romance as just friends. This may prove to potentially make or break their connection despite both being in hopes of becoming an actual couple one day.**Will contain Scramble spoilers in later chapters! I'll be sure to mark them at the beginning for those that don't want to be spoiled by the events that happen in the game.**
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Niijima Makoto, Kurusu Akira/Niijima Makoto, Niijima Makoto/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	Jail of Hope

Elegance.

That is the first word that comes to Ren’s mind when he thinks about Makoto.

Dependable.

The trait that sticks with Makoto when she thinks about Ren.

“I can’t learn about romance by myself…”

…

“I’ll be your study partner.”

Makoto’s eyes widened, cheeks flushed red, unable to comprehend what Ren had just said. She feels as if it was a dream. Please don’t let it be a dream. Makoto’s heart, racing a thousand beats per second, thinking of the multitude of things that they’ve done since becoming actual friends. From the first trip to the arcade and feeling so alive playing the arcade game, to when she nervously sent the text to Ren asking to go to the movies with her.

Ren is no different. Him, realizing what he just said, his mind back tracking everything he recalls about why he admires her so. Recalling how cute he thought of her hiding behind her manga trying to trail him everywhere he went. How funny it was to tease her about being a robot.. He’ll never give up mentioning beep boop to Makoto at any moment he gets. Most importantly, he’ll never forget how she confided in him, telling him about her dad’s tragic story. He wanted to do nothing more than to just hug her and not let go. And yet. Ren felt that he may have moved things way too fast. He wants to see Makoto grow even more as a person.

… Ren is swiftly broken from his daze as Makoto tries to break the awkward silence. “S-Sorry if I’m mistaken, but um…” Makoto, hesitant on her next question, her mind telling her to just pull the trigger and get on with it.

“Do you… like me?”

“...That’s not what I meant.” Ren said softly.

An awkward silence.

“Oh..” Makoto sounded slightly dejected.

“Well I do like you, however I think we shouldn’t jump into a relationship so fast.” Ren hesitantly speaks, as if he expects Makoto to never speak to him again. Does he feel like he’s making a mistake? How will this affect their time when hanging out with the others?

“...You’re right.” Makoto agreed.

“I think taking time carefully focusing on ourselves is the best way to maintain how we act and treat both of us, and others.” Makoto said, keeping her composure together. She’d be lying if she didn’t feel some sort of pain coming from her heart. I’m not going down without a fight.

Thoughts and emotions swirl through the heads of both Ren and Makoto as they walk to the train station after leaving the Crossroads bar. Both of them, wanting to make sure where they stand with each other, fumbling to form words to strike a conversation. The train comes, they step inside. Nothing. Their eyes, shifting to look at the other and away. What feels as if just one blink is all it took. Back in Shibuya, when they get off the train, Makoto immediately turns to Ren.

“Thank you for being with me today, please get home safe.” Makoto said, holding back the tears trying to escape for her ducts.

“Yeah, I can text you when I get back.” Ren, keeping his emotions in check as if he was in the Metaverse as the fearless leader that Makoto and the rest of their friends have come to admire.

“Please do.” Makoto gave a short smile and turned to head home.She wants to turn back and see Ren’s face one more time for the day, but the tears have fully escaped from behind the bars, that is, her eyes. Ren, still standing in the same spot, wonders if what was said was the right decision, He needed to let out his thoughts about the matter. Morgana. Immediately, Ren moves along and gets home as quickly as possible. Slipping through the crowds of people, Ren knows that if there’s another who knows of his feelings about the matter.

Morgana.

Ren immediately hurries to Leblanc. At the entrance of the cafe, lies the black cat awaiting Ren’s return.

“Welcome back, did everything go well?” Morgana, greeting as he lets out a small yawn.

“Well…” Ren, speaking in a soft tone.

Morgana sensed something was up, and immediately got up so Ren could open the door inside the cafe. Inside, Morgana leaped in front of Ren, who was walking faster than usual to go up the stairs.

“Hey, Earth to Ren! What happened?” cried Morgana.

“..Do you really want to know?” Ren, looking off to the side to avoid eye contact.

Morgana all confused tilts his head, “You went to Shinjuku to help Makoto with her friend problem right? Did something happen between them?”

“Not necessarily…”

“Then wha- oh... Did you confess your feelings for her?”

Ren scurried up the stairs, wanting to answer Morgana, but felt choked up about how he responded to Makoto the way he did. Did he feel extreme guilt? Why does it have to be this way?... Ren puts his bag down, and flops onto his bed, face buried into his pillow. Morgana follows in suit and sits next to Ren, wondering himself what in the hell just happened while he was out.

“Hey hey, Do you want to talk about it?” Morgana softly asking Ren.

Ren turns his head to face the window, wanting to make sure he gathers himself to properly explain why it had to happen this way. He slowly takes a deep breath to try to ease the anxiety building up in him. After a calming exhale, Ren starts, “Yes and no.. I wanted to confess my full feelings for Makoto, but something in me told me that was a bad decision.”

Morgana confused from what he just heard, “What do you mean bad decision?”

“I… really adore Makoto, I truly do. However we’ve known each other for only three months. Helping her broaden her horizons is a nice experience, I want to be there side by side with her. I like seeing her smile, her laugh is adorable beyond anything else, and her sincerity is something I greatly admire. She mentioned how she can’t study romance all by herself because her friends said she’d flunk in learning how to love… I told her I’d be her study partner.”

“That sounds great Ren, I still don’t kno-” Ren, cutting Morgana off.

“She wanted to reconfirm if I liked her. I said that’s not what I meant. I want to be with her, but my gut was saying this is too sudden. Maybe I’m just afraid that our relationship can go to dirt due to rushing more into a romantic connection instead of developing a stronger platonic connection first.”

Morgana seems to understand what Ren means by wanting to be inseparable as her best friend before becoming an inseparable partner… “How did she take it?”

“She seemed disappointed when I told her that, but she agreed that we were rushing a bit into it. Something felt extremely off though. We couldn’t look at each other after we agreed to just stay friends. The train ride felt like it took hours on end because of the awkward silence we had. I felt even more off after she said to get home safe, and she quickly turned around to-- Shit..!”

“Huh? What’s the matter?” Morgana, confused by Ren’s sudden outburst.

Immediately, Ren, struggling to grab his phone out of his pocket, realizing he forgot to text Makoto that he made it home safe, curses to himself about how he forgot so easily. How long was it since he told her that we would text her? Maybe she forgot to keep track of time herself? No way, this is Makoto Niijima we’re talking about. She couldn’t forget small genuine details like that. Ren taps his phone to turn the screen on, eyes expand wide open as he sees a text from none other than the girl who’s on his mind almost every day.

Makoto: “Hello.” 5:35pm

Makoto: “I’m home safe. I was worried after not hearing from you. Are you ok?” 5:36pm

..

Makoto: “Ren? Are you there? Can we talk..?” 6:15pm

...

Makoto can’t help but check her phone every couple of minutes in hopes of seeing Ren’s name flash onto the screen. After crying and letting all of her emotions pour out into her pillow the moment she got home, she knew she couldn’t avoid Ren any longer than she already had after they left Crossroads. Her face, still red from crying on her way home from the station. Thoughts are more clearer now that she was able to let things out. She thinks she has a solution that can help maintain her bond with Ren, if not make it stronger. Deep breaths… One… Two… *buzz* *buzz* … Her phone lights up, immediately scrambling for her phone, she sees the name on the screen, Ren Amamiya.

Ren: “Sorry about that.”

Ren: “I’m free to talk whenever.”

Makoto can feel her heart start racing again. Her thumb nervously over her phone, wanting to make words. After a slow exhale of breath, she starts typing.

Makoto: “Am I able to come to the cafe now? Would it be too late?”

Two minutes go by. Three. Four. She sees the three little dots on the message screen go in and out on Ren’s end. What would he say? Would it be awful to text him “nevermind” out of fear that they might make things worse?

Ren: “That’s fine.”

Makoto: “Thank you, I’ll see you soon.”

Not a single second goes by, Makoto dashes to the bathroom to wash her face, and throws on her shoes, then out the door she goes. Her mind whirling with every possible scenario that can play out. Before she knew it, she’s already off the train and a few minutes away from the welcoming atmosphere of coffee and curry. Turning around the corner of the narrow alleyway, she spots the cafe. In front of the cafe stands Ren who seems to be reading a book with one hand while the other is stuffed into his pocket.

And just like that, with one single sight of the charming young man, Makoto’s heart starts racing again. This’ll be fine.

“Hey there, Ren.” Makoto says softly, giving a heart warming smile towards Ren.

Ren’s ears perch up at the sound of the soothing voice. He steadily puts the book down to look at Makoto in the eyes and reciprocate the smile.

“Hey, glad to see you. Shall we head inside?”

Ren holds the door open for Makoto to head inside first, then follows in suit.

“Are you hungry? I can make you something to eat.” Ren offers sincerely.

“Oh, no thank you.”

“How about coffee?”

“That’ll be fine, thank you.”

“Right away.”

Ren turns to put on his apron, and starts to whip up a batch for both Makoto and himself. Makoto feels all the jitters flowing throughout her body. Before she can initiate the conversation, she’s immediately interrupted mid-thought.

“So what did you want to talk about?” Ren spoke.

Makoto scrambles to get her words out right, her mind flooding with thoughts of both just getting up and running out the cafe as fast as she can, and wanting to tell Ren how she feels for him.

“W-well, um-“

“If it’s about what happened earlier today, I’m sorry.”

Her eyes widened. There it was. Ren jumping straight to the point. Before another word can come out her mouth, Ren continues.

“I want you to know that I’m here for you. I want to be able to continue to do things outside of school. I just..”

He pauses, slowly swallowing what he’s about to say next.

“I think this is a good opportunity for us to get a feel for whenever we find a partner for ourselves in the future.”

Silence.

Ren feels it inside. He knows he’s lying to himself, but he knows it’s better this way. Makoto sitting on a stool, is doing everything in her power to keep her mouth closed from what she just heard. But I want us to be partners.

“Hey, are you ok?” Ren, noticing a zoned out Makoto.

“H-huh? Oh. Y-yeah, I’m ok.”

She pauses, taking in a deep breath as Ren gently places her cup of coffee in front of her.

“I agree. I’m new to all of this, but I think this’ll help us get a grasp on what people like to do as a couple. This’ll be fun, even as just friends”

Friends.

Another short pause. Ren takes a sip of his coffee before responding back.

“Yeah. I’ll be here for you.”

“Thank you. That’s reassuring to hear… um hey Ren?”

“Yeah?”

Makoto briefly pauses. She knows what she wants to say, but something in her is telling her to stop. Maybe it’s best not to say anything else.

“Nevermind. It’s getting late, I should probably start heading home before the last train leaves.”

“Want me to walk you to the station?”

“... I’d like that.”

Makoto gets up, making her way out the door. Ren slowly walking behind her, turns his head to a peeking black cat from the steps leading into the attic. He nods to Morgana, signaling to him that he’ll be right back. Heading to the station, Ren can’t help but think about what Makoto wanted to ask him. They arrive at the station, Makoto turns to Ren.

“Thank you again for letting me come over to talk. Please get home safe.” Makoto, letting out a small smile.

“I will. You do the same.”

She nods her head, but before she steps onto the train, she looks at Ren once more.

“Let’s do this together as equals.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey you! Welcome to my first multi-chapter fic. I hope you will enjoy reading this! I will be posting chapters on my own time, so please bear with me!
> 
> I do have a Twitter if you'd like to see more ShuMako content I make: @VeloPls  
> Also I make ShuMako videos for both Royal and Scramble on YouTube: VeloPls


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